Snapchat has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived customers about the disappearing nature of messages sent through its service.

The hit app came under fire after it failed to tell users that others could save their messages without their knowledge, and collected users' contacts without telling them or asking permission.

The firm today agreed to settle without admitting or denying any wrongdoing and claimed it has already addressed many of the issues the FTC raised.

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Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in Los Angeles. Snapchat has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived customers about the disappearing nature of messages they send through its service and collected users contacts without telling them or asking for permission.

THE INSTANT MESSAGING WARS

Back in February Facebook bought hugely popular messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion (£11.4 billion), after failing in a previous $3 billion to buy Snapchat.

At the start of April, Vine revealed its ‘Vine Messages’ service that enabled users to send messages to each other.

This directly followed once-popular social network Bebo’s attempts to get back into the game with Blab, their own video messaging service.

Facebook, meanwhile, is busy trying to increase the profile of its Messenger app, with rumours that it will shift WhatsApp users onto its native messaging client.

They recently announced a selfie feature for Messenger that makes it easier to send people pictures of yourself.

And even Twitter is getting in on the game – it’s rumoured they are considering letting users have secret conversations on the site.

As part of the settlement, Snapchat must implement a privacy program that will be monitored by an outside privacy expert for the next 20 years.

The arrangement is similar to privacy settlements that Google, Facebook and Myspace have agreed to in recent years.

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'If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises,' Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman for the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement.

'Any company that makes misrepresentations to consumers about its privacy and security practices risks F.T.C. action.'

Although Snapchat said its app notified users when a recipient takes a screenshot of a 'snap' they've sent, the FTC said recipients with an Apple device that runs an operating system that predates iOS 7 could evade the app's screenshot detection.

Apple's iOS7 launched last summer.

In addition, the FTC said Snapchat's app stored video snaps that were not encrypted on the recipient's device.

The videos remained accessible to the recipient, the agency said.

A user could access a video message, even after it supposedly disappeared, if the user simply connected the phone to a computer and accessed the video in the device's file directory.

The FTC complaint also alleges that Snapchat failed to secure its 'find friends' feature.

A security breach in January allowed hackers to collect the usernames and phone numbers of some 4.6 million Snapchat users.

To use Snapchat's new Chat feature (pictured) you simply need to swipe right on one of your friend's names in the app's inbox. Messages are deleted when you both quit the chat window

You can activate the front (left) and rear (right) cameras on your device by dragging your finger to the bottom and top of your phone respectively

The breach occurred after security experts warned the company at least twice about a vulnerability in its system.

Snapchat later issued an update to its app that fixed the issue and allowed users to opt out of the 'find friends' feature.

Snapchat's Android app also transmitted users' location information, the FTC said, even though the company told users it didn't collect such information.

The settlement doesn't have a financial component, but if Snapchat is found to violate the agreement, the company could end up paying a civil penalty of up to $16,000 for each violation.

The Los Angeles startup reportedly turned down a $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook last fall.

In a blog post Thursday, Snapchat said that when its app was being created, 'some things didn't get the attention they could have.'

'When we started building Snapchat, we were focused on developing a unique, fast, and fun way to communicate with photos.

'We learned a lot during those early days.

'One of the ways we learned was by making mistakes, acknowledging them, and fixing them.

'While we were focused on building, some things didn’t get the attention they could have.

'One of those was being more precise with how we communicated with the Snapchat community.

'This morning we entered into a consent decree with the FTC that addresses concerns raised by the commission.

'We are devoted to promoting user privacy and giving Snapchatters control over how and with whom they communicate.'

'One of those was being more precise with how we communicated with the Snapchat community,' the company said in the post.

Snapchat, however, said it has since fixed the problems.

'Even before today's consent decree was announced, we had resolved most of those concerns over the past year by improving the wording of our privacy policy, app description, and in-app just-in-time notifications,' the company said.

'And we continue to invest heavily in security and countermeasures to prevent abuse.'

The settlement will be formally approved in 30 days once a public comment period ends.

The company is based in Los Angeles and is run by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, two former fraternity brothers at Stanford.

The service was first released in 2011 and quickly gained a following among high school students in Southern California.

The company does not reveal the number of people currently using its service, but says more than 700 million messages are sent each day.